You Are My Sunshine
by SinsofYouth
Summary: Gift/Thank you fic for narutolover15. "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey. You'll never know dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away." Ghost fic. SasuNaru/ mentions of GaaraNaru.
1. Chapter 1

**This is a thankyou fic for narutolover15. Thanks for the 200th review!**

**Warnings: story contains citris (eventual), violence and character death (eventual)**

**This is unBeta-ed. Any and all mistakes are my own.**

**Enjoy...**

* * *

**You Are My Sunshine**

Someone was crying. The sound was distant at first, like it was coming from the other side of a long dark tunnel, echoing and thread. It was coming closer, the crying, or maybe he was the one bridging the distance. And then all at once he became a part of the noise.

She sobbed into his arm, calling for him, telling him to wake up. He couldn't see her face, but he could hear her pleading.

"Come back…come back…"

He wasn't going anywhere. He was right here. Stupid woman.

Someone else was speaking; a man. He couldn't see him either.

"…nothing we can do…wait for him…"

Wait for him to do what? Fall asleep? They were the ones keeping him awake.

The woman shouted at the man's voice. He couldn't hear all of it. She said something about 'baby'.

He wanted to tell her to stop all the yelling, that he couldn't sleep. Be he couldn't open his eyes, or turn his head. He tried to speak, but no sound emerged; his throat was as unresponsive as his petrified body.

What was going on? Why was this happening?

And then the voices disappeared. He was shoved back into the tunnel, with a new destination. He heard a single, drawn out note carry over the blackness of far away. Louder it pitched until it was right in front of him.

He opened his eyes just in time to see the headlights flash in front of him. And then his world exploded in a wave of heat, light and sound.

Sasuke woke sweating.

.XX.

It was raining the night Naruto walked into his life. Lightening rent the black curtain of night as thunder produced a continuous rumble in the sky.

He was staring at his computer screen. The blank page in front of him glared back mockingly. He couldn't think, not a mental state he preferred; especially not while he was writing a college entrance essay.

Obsidian colored eyes trailed over the single pre-written line on the screen for what felt like the hundredth time.

'As we go through our lives we meet many people; some for the good, others not. Tell about a time/place or person who has touched you, for the better or worse.'

Sasuke like to think that he was many things. The girls at school would call him sexy, or athletic. The teachers praised his intellect and drive whilst the guys on his team stood in awe of his natural talent. Yet, amongst those attributes accredited to him, 'emotionally touched' was not one. Sasuke learn early on that Uchiha's didn't **do** touched.

His mother tapped lightly on the door before peeking inside her son's room. "It's late Sasuke. How is the essay coming along?"

"Not as well as I'd like." The raven said. He wouldn't have admitted it to anyone else, but he'd always gotten along better with his mother than Fugaku or Itachi: his father and brother. Perhaps it was just a symptom of being the younger of the two boys, but he appreciated his mother's kindness more than his father's unerring disapproval and Itachi's indifference.

The woman smiled and placed her hands on his shoulders. Her thumbs traced slow circles on the nape of his neck as she had for years. It relaxed him a bit; not much. But there wasn't anything his mother could do to completely relieve his tension, unless she wanted to write the essay for him. But she wouldn't do that, and Sasuke would never ask.

"Thank you." He sighed and her hands disappeared.

"Your father is going to be in the office for a little while longer." She murmured gently. "You should try and get some sleep."

"Thank you." He repeated, this time with the appreciation he felt. It soothed her enough to allow her to retire. She had done what any good mother would do and her good son would try and get some sleep soon. He just needed to get something done first.

Sasuke listened as her footsteps faded off down the hall. He heard her door close and all was sweetly silent.

But only for a few short seconds. There was another reason for his writers' block besides lack of subject matter and it was currently lounging on his bed.

"Thank goodness." The woman giggled, toying idly with a strand of pink hair. "I thought she'd never leave."

"I was hoping you might."

The pink-haired girl, whom Sasuke had begrudgingly learned was named Sakura, pouted. "You're still not very nice."

The youngest Uchiha ignored her.

The recently murdered woman had followed him home from school one day. After three weeks of her stiflingly constant affections, Sasuke was just about ready to kill her for a second time. He didn't care if she was a ghost, he was an Uchiha. He would find a way.

Instead of answering, the raven took another game stab at his bummer of an essay.

After the better part of another hour had gone, Sasuke was on his eleventh restart and wanted nothing more than to shut his laptop and go to sleep. But his Uchiha pride wouldn't allow him to accept defeat. He'd accepted the challenge. He had to get something done.

He felt a chill run across his skin. It would happen sometimes when Sakura tried to touch him. She couldn't actually touch him since she had no actual physical substance, but the shiver still manifested. Maybe it was something only he could feel. Then again, maybe that was the way spirits touched the living and every time someone shivered they were touching someone from the realm of the dead. Either way, a disembodied spirit had run its' clammy fingers across his shoulder and he was laying odds it was Sakura trying to get his attention.

"Stop it." He said abruptly. The ghost woman had responded the best to straight-forward frankness if she chose to ignore his prolonged silences.

He heard a gasp. It didn't belong to Sakura. It most definitely belonged to a man.

Sasuke swiveled around, locking gazes with a pair of the bluest eyes he had ever seen.

The boy was washed out, like all the other spirits Sasuke had had the misfortune of meeting in his seventeen years of life. The ghost looked faded, as though he had been washed one time too many. Despite this, the golden yellow spikes still shone like rays of sunlight. His skin was lightly tanned and he sported six whisker-esk scars across his cheeks. Oddly, it didn't look stupid. In fact, they made the boy look almost…sexy.

Sasuke arched an eyebrow as the ghost began to back up, blue eyes wide.

"You…you can see me?"

The Uchiha nodded once.

Truthfully, he had been seeing spirits for as long as he could remember.

In his younger days he tried to show his parents the funny people who could walk through walls and had been punished for lying. After several repeat performances, Sasuke stopped trying. But the funny people never went away; they stuck around until he had grown up enough to call them 'ghosts'.

The boys' expression had shifted from surprise to curiosity. He peered at Sasuke like **he** was the transparent one and grinned.

"Well it's about time I found someone to talk to. I thought I'd go crazy all by myself."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and turned back to his computer. The boy certainly recovered quickly.

He had an essay to compose and it wouldn't get done while he sat chatting with another wayward spirit lost between earth and the afterlife.

"What are you doing?" Another wave of cold washed over his shoulder as the ghost leaned over to look at his laptop screen. Sasuke wished for a moment that he could push the boy away. But since ghosts were annoyingly non-corporal, he was forced to lean away from the source of shivers running down his spine.

"What kind of stupid pills is your Lit teacher on?" The ghost asked.

Sasuke snorted. "It's an essay for college idiot. They don't ask you normal questions."

"Oh." The blond back away, chuckling self-consciously as he did. "Well, I guess that makes sense."

The raven didn't respond. He wasn't particularly good at entertaining people; even those he thought were worth his time. At the moment, however, he wasn't really thinking about his uninvited house guest. His mind had snapped back to that essay again…and was still coming up with jack-squat.

"So…" The blond cleared his throat and shifted back and forth on his translucent feet. "I'll just…get out of your hair then. See you around." He turned to go.

Sasuke could feel more than hear the tell-tale rustling. His wayward spirit was departing his room and his life. He only wished that Sakura would leave that easily. But for some reason he didn't want the blond go so easily. His departure felt wrong.

"What's your name?" He called out before he could consider the consequences.

"What?" The blond turned. He was standing half-way inside the bedroom wall.

"What's your name?"

The spirit's grin was sheepish. "Naruto." He said. "Naruto Uzumaki."

Sasuke nodded wordlessly and turned his attention back to the screen in front of him. He thought about letting it go at that, but once again, the niggling tremor of prophecy wouldn't allow him to. Instead he blurted out: "Uzumaki, if you care, I…wouldn't **hate** it if you came back. Just as long as you don't make a complete nuisance of yourself."

He didn't need to look to know that the blond ghost was grinning ear to ear.

The knot inside his chest loosened when Naruto said "Sure." and disappeared through the wall.

Sasuke stared at the blank screen, his fingers poised over the keypad, but his mind was no longer on the essay. Sighing, he shut his laptop and leaned back.

He blond would return. Sasuke knew he would. The question was: why was did it matter so much to him?

* * *

He dreamed of the crying woman again.

She shed no tears now. Instead she sat beside him, held his oddly immobile hand and sang. She had a sweet voice. It was kind and motherly. He loved her. He didn't know her, but he felt as though he should love her with all his heart, should love this voice; this voice he had heard all his life.

The song she sang was sad, haunting, like the tremor underlying her beautiful voice.

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,

You make me happy when skies are grey,

You'll never know dear, how much I love you,

Oh please don't take my sunshine away,"

Sasuke woke shaking.

* * *

"Okay class, that's the assignment. You have the remainder of the class period to get as much of it done as you can. Get to it."

There were scattered murmurs of assent from the twenty-odd students gathered in Kakashi Hatake's AP Government class.

Sasuke sighed and bent over his book. He didn't bother joining any of the quickly forming study pods. The ones who had any brains wouldn't need his help and the rest didn't deserve it. He preferred to be on his own: self-sufficient. At least he could legitimately claim he'd completed his work all on his own merit.

The assignment was to create a nation and a system of government to rule over it. The framework could be as complex or as simple as the founder (student) was willing to make it. Of course, the more effort on put in, the better the end grade would be.

Sasuke's eyes wandered to the noisier of the clicks massing together, specifically to the source of most of the classrooms' noise: a one Kiba Inazuka.

The boy was currently attempting to unscrew the table attached to his chair, much to the amusement of his fellow classmates; who were egging him on as loudly as they dared without tipping off Kakashi that shenanigans were afoot.

Sasuke glanced over to the teacher's desk and snorted. Kakashi had his head buried in a book. He wasn't even pretending to pay any attention to his class. The Uchiha just hoped that the Principle didn't decide to walk in when Kiba got his desk taken apart.

"What are you doing?"

Sasuke turned his attention to the new voice to his right. The ghost was back. It had been almost a week since the raven last saw him. For a while, actually, he'd thought that Naruto wasn't coming back. It was odd how disturbing that idea had been; more so than he cared to admit.

"Project." He was careful to keep his voice low. Even if his classmates couldn't see or hear Naruto, they could hear him.

Naruto either didn't understand this or the ghost simply didn't care. He leaned closer to inspect the AP government literature and the Uchiha's notebook lying open on the desk-top.

"What the United Emeriti?" He asked.

Sasuke was tempted to ignore the spirit, but couldn't quite bring himself to do it. Before the Uchiha realized it, he was explaining the project to a politely silent Naruto.

When Sasuke finished, he whistled. "Sounds like fun. Can I help?"

The raven shrugged noncommittally, but allowed Naruto to lean in and put his two cents. After twenty minutes of 'suggestions', his well-organized ruler-ship had deteriorated rather spectacularly into anarchy stitched loosely together with the barest layer of rules disguised as national holidays.

He couldn't recall the last time he had so much fun on a school assignment.

"Naruto." He said. The ghost's incredibly blue eyes transferred from the page he was studying to the Uchiha's face.

"What's up?"

Sasuke tried not to look back. It was weird enough he was muttering to 'himself', best not to compound the oddity by staring at thin air. He contented himself with the notebook in front of him.

"How did you get here?" He wondered absently if he had another ghost stalker.

The blond snorted loudly. "Yeah, right. Who would want to follow your lame excuse of a personality around all day?"

Sasuke arched an eyebrow and waited for Naruto's question to ask itself. The ghost had to have seen Sakura.

Sasuke didn't have to wait long.

"Oh, well…I didn't mean to follow you. Actually, I don't really know how I got here. I just sort of happened. I was all hanging out in your room and then I was kind of…" He seemed to be searching for the right word. "…pulled here."

"Pulled?" Sasuke repeated.

"Hey, don't look at me." The ghost raised his hands defensively. "I can't explain it any better. I'm new to this whole 'ghost' thing. I wasn't planning on stalking you if it makes you feel any better. It just happened."

Naruto leaned in and wiggled his eyebrows. "Good thing too. It looked like you needed me to liven this class up a little."

The Uchiha didn't answer. The blonds' explanation left more questions than it answered, but it was something. At least Naruto wasn't stalking him like some of his other metaphysical visitors. And perhaps there was something about the blond that he enjoyed. Sasuke smirked down at his paper and the loose guidelines of anarchy they had assembled together. It wasn't the guy's brains.

The bell trilled loudly, effectively severing his train of thought.

"All right class." Kakashi called from behind his desk. "It's that time. Hand in what you've got."

The obligatory groans were issued before the rustling of notebooks and backpacks overtook the room.

Sasuke handed his pages over and started to leave, Naruto at his side.

He paused at the door, chancing a glance at his teacher. Kakashi's eyebrows had disappeared up somewhere in his hair as his eyes continued to scan Sasuke's assignment.

"Something tells me." Naruto chuckled once they'd travelled a fair way down the hall. "That wasn't a sample of your typical work."

Despite himself, Sasuke laughed.

* * *

Sasuke didn't do friends; for the simple reason that he had no use for them. They took away the time and energy and resources better spent in more worthwhile endeavors.

He discovered quickly that Naruto didn't do anything **less** than **best** friends.

The blond was everywhere, constantly poking around his room, pestering him while he tried to do homework, hanging around school, or pulling faces at him at dinner. Sasuke was almost certain that his parent's thought he was developing a mental condition. His classmates already did. After his government project was shared with the class the following week, rumors began flying in earnest.

And maybe there was some truth to their murmured mutterings.

In the beginning, Sasuke didn't pay attention to the idiots who stared and whispered to one another. He had his own idiots to worry about; ones who were blond and named Naruto Uzumaki and could walk through walls.

There was a point, however, when he could no longer deny he enjoyed the ghost boy's company more than perhaps was right. He wasn't sure when he had come to desire the blonds' constant stream of babble. But the nights Naruto was away felt oddly empty.

He didn't think about it. It was best not to, then the implications could be comfortably ignored.

There came a point, however, when Naruto could no longer be ignored.

* * *

He was staring at the computer again. The same essay spread across the screen. The stark whiteness of the page was like the gleaming fangs of some predatory animal.

Lightning painted the slivering black of night visible through his curtains. Rain was once more drilling into the roof, staying the silence with a thousand nimble fingers.

He still couldn't think.

Frustration edged along his spine. It curled innocuously around his mind until he wanted to write what he really thought about the essay and send that instead of the given prompt.

"Hey, what'cha up to?"

Naruto was back.

"Writing."

The blond peered over his shoulder, brushing sweet chills down his backbone. Naruto chuckled and pulled back.

"It looks like you're just staring at the computer to me. There's nothing but the instructions on the page."

He paused while he read those instructions. Sasuke mentally ticked off the seconds till the blonds' predictable exclamation.

"You're still on this essay? Dude, it's been…like forever and you haven't even written anything."

The raven arched an eyebrow at his irksome poltergeist. He didn't mention that it had only been two months since his first attempt at this particular essay. He wasn't going to give Naruto that kind of ammunition.

Instead, he said: "Maybe if I wasn't constantly being interrupted I would be finished."

Naruto backed off Sasuke's shoulder, but he shook his head.

"Nah, it's not that. You have to have friends to answer a prompt like that. Since you don't have any…"

The ghost's heavily implicated trail off only made Sasuke want to roll his eyes.

"Funny," He said. "Tell it again."

Naruto didn't and the silence expanded uncomfortably between them.

At length the ghost cleared his throat. "So…how come you **don't** have any friends?"

Sasuke shrugged. "The idiots at school aren't worth socializing with."

"What about me?"

"You don't go to school."

"No." The blond scowled. "I mean: why do you let me hang around? If you're that against **'socializing'**." The way he casually tossed the Uchiha's words back at him stung. Sasuke didn't know why.

The raven didn't answer at first. He wasn't really sure what to say. At length, honesty won. What prompted the words he couldn't fathom, but the confession felt right.

"I had a feeling." He responded at last. "If I'd let you leave I would regret it."

For the rest of the night, Sasuke failed to produce a single substantial line of text, and Naruto said nothing. He just sat on Sasuke's bed and smiled.

* * *

"Oh, Sasuke, this is just perfect. You're perfect. I can't believe that I'm going out with the most perfect guy in the whole school. Nobody can get a date with you. And…well…if it wasn't for you talking to yourself all the time…you'd be perfect. Oh, Sasuke. I'm so excited about tonight. Do I know where we're going? I'll bet it's going to be perfect, because it has to be. You're perfect, so our date just has to be perfect too…"

"Does she ever shut up?"

Sasuke smirked. Naruto was floating around his 'date' for the evening, frowning and inspecting her tall slender figure like he was the judge in some contest. She wasn't contending well.

"Oh, are we going to the carnival, Sasuke? Aren't you sweet, that's the place I wanted to go the most. I meant to go, but I haven't had the chance. I'm always studying and reading to improve my mind so I can help all of humanity. Those poor people who don't have any food or clothing or water and can't speak or learn or anything; it's so sad, don't you think it's sad. I do, that's why I'm studying so hard all the time, improving my mind. So I don't have much time to go to carnivals."

"Her mind needs all the help it can get."

"Speak for yourself usuratonkachi."

The blond pouted and Sasuke's date turned to look at him.

"Did you say something Sasuke?"

When the raven didn't respond, the girl just giggled.

"Oh, Sasuke, you're so strong and silent. You're the strong and silent type. You're so perfect for me. It's like we were destined to be together for the rest of our lives because…well, you're so strong and silent and handsome and wonderful…"

Naruto made a gagging, choking noise and Sasuke could help but smirk again. He shot the ghost a warning look though. He didn't want to be rude, even if this girl was the single most addle-brained individual he had ever met. He was an Uchiha; some semblance of decorum was required.

Naruto stuck out his tongue, but stopped baiting Sasuke. After that, the night steadily declined into bedlam.

His date wasn't the hardy sort, nor did she care for carnival food. Neither did Sasuke, but she was the one who had suggested this particular destination. Sasuke was nothing if not a gentleman.

After enduring two hours of nearly incoherent stream-of-consciousness prattling she threw up on his shoe.

She insisted she was fine and that they should continue the date. Another hour passed and she had tossed her cookies twice more, once in an accommodating dumpster, the second on Sasuke's clean shoe.

Naruto was doubled over with laughter at this point. Between glaring at his paranormal companion and attending to his corporal one, Sasuke was feeling a bit testy.

The girl didn't last long after that. Not that Sasuke would've let the chaos go on even if she were still game. He refused to trudge around a public place another minute reeking of nacho cheese vomit.

She called a driver to pick her up. Sasuke saw her off and then head out for his car.

"Where are you going?"

The raven turned to look at his ghostly companion. Naruto looked indignant, but Sasuke was in no mood to play games.

"Home."

"But it's a weekend and you still have hours before you have to be home. What do you plan to do when you get there, sit in your room and stare at that 'friend essay' some more?"

Sasuke still hadn't made any headway on that essay and it was already four months into the school year. It was a sore spot and the blond knew it.

It may have been petty, it may have been juvenile. But Sasuke was tired; he had been forced to endure four long hours of brainless nattering; he smelled of grease and nasty bodily fluids. Naruto's words were a solid punch to the remainder of his tried and frayed nerves. He spoke without thinking.

"Maybe I am." He said, venom dripping from every syllable. "But you don't have to stick around my boring room while I do."

The blonds' eyes widened. "What does that mean?"

"It means you should go and find someone else to bother, idiot." He regretted the words the instant they emerged from his mouth. The hurt on Naruto's face almost had him apologizing. But Uchiha's didn't apologize, Uchiha's didn't need to cater to the whims of juvenile spirits. Uchiha's didn't need anything, or anyone.

So Sasuke didn't say anything. He just walked away and didn't look back.

* * *

**AN: I'm back...long time no see. I'm going to get back to my other stories. I promise.**

**Anyway. Tell me what you think so far.**

**Until next time...**


	2. Chapter 2

**You are My Sunshine Pt. 2**

I am so sorry this chapter took so long; I've been having the block of a frickn' lifetime. But I promise I will finish this for narutolover. And for those of you who actually care about this fic. Anyway, happy Boxing Day everyone.

Enjoy.

Three months. That's how long his world stayed grey. That's how long everyone else had clear skies while his filmed over with clouds and rain.

No one noticed he stopped listening to jokes. No one noticed his homework was more cold and rigid than it had ever been. No one cared that he threw himself into the college applications with a renewed zeal bordering on masochism. No one besides his mother bothered to tell him to sleep, or eat since he did little enough of either. But even she stopped after a few weeks. He wasn't listening and she didn't know how to make him.

No one else cared enough to see. They only cared that he stopped talking to himself. They only cared that he show up for Christmas dinner and pretend everything was normal. They only cared that he got his homework done. They only cared that he go as far in the world as he could.

So Sasuke cared enough for everyone else, about something other than the friend he had tossed aside. Because Sasuke Uchiha had more to live for than a dead boy.

Even three months repeating that phrase didn't make it any easier to swallow.

But he carried on. He was an Uchiha. He carried on.

**.:xXXx:.**

Naruto didn't stay away. Naruto couldn't stay away. Somehow being away hurt more than the raven's biting words. Sure he had pride, and that pride kept him in solitude for almost a week. But he knew he would be returning to that black-haired bastard. No matter how hard he tried to stay away, something, some inexplicable urge was pulling him back.

He caught himself across the street from the Uchiha's house several times, just staring up at the second floor window: Sasuke's window. He would watch for hours, long into the night, until the light turned out; or when it didn't, which was most nights. Those were the nights he would worry, when he wanted so badly to float up, go in and see if Sasuke was alright. He didn't though; not at first. It wasn't until the second week he finally gave in. That first night three months ago.

Tonight the air was cold. He couldn't feel it, but somehow awareness of temperature had stayed with him even in his non-corporal form.

Naruto slid easily through the walls of the Uchiha home. Memory and habit brought him to Sasuke's room before he even gave the destination conscious thought.

Silently he studied the raven. The boy was sitting at his desk, the screen of his laptop shining that same blank white it had for the last three months. Was it the same essay too? The one about friends?

The room was as neat as ever, not a sock on the floor, not a hanger poking out of the closet. Everything was just as it had been the first time Naruto woke up here: spotless, perfect. It was everything Sasuke's life had departed from. And Naruto knew what the man's life had become. He had watched for three months as his friend plunged headlong into misery. The ghost didn't flatter himself; fantasizing that Sasuke couldn't cope without him. He didn't have to reengineer reality; the evidence was right in front of his eyes. And it hurt him to watch.

Sasuke sighed deeply and leaned back in his chair, combing long fingers through already thoroughly tussled spikes. His eyes were closed and Naruto allowed himself a guilty perusal of the raven's face. Something about him was all wrong. Naruto frowned at the deeply set shadows under the young man's eyes; the product of too many nights spent sleepless and in front of a computer. The youngest Uchiha looked weary and worn down. But it was more than that. He was missing something. He was missing his smile. His happiness.

His light.

Naruto had the sudden urge to go and beat the crap out of the raven-haired boy sitting in that chair. How dare he sit and be in pain when he was the one who told Naruto to leave. How could he let himself fall apart when he needed Naruto as much as Naruto needed him? Why wouldn't he just reach out? Was his pride so insurmountable? Yes, it seemed it was. The anger dissolved slowly as he continued to stare at Sasuke, melting away to pity. And that too diminished until all that was left was resolve. He couldn't be selfish. He couldn't hold onto his pride and stay away, not when Sasuke was suffering for it. If he were a petty, vindictive boy, he might've walked away; he might've left the raven to his own misery. But the thought was never considered. In his mind there was only ever one option when it came to Sasuke.

So he stepped closer to the Uchiha's chair and traced a tentative circle around the base of Sasuke's neck with his thumb, just like he'd seen Sasuke's mom do a hundred times. The man didn't jump, didn't really respond at all, except to open his mouth and growl. "I'm not in the mood for your games Sakura. Leave."

Naruto swallowed hard and dropped his hands, suddenly self-conscious. But he refused to back down. His voice was hesitant.

"Sasuke?"

The raven sucked in a sharp shallow breath, but for long moments remained completely still. Naruto's chest was tight, but he repeated the boy's name.

"Sasuke."

Obsidian eyes opened slowly.

PAGE BREAK

He was so nervous. But that was okay. You were supposed to be nervous on your first date, right?

He fidgeted with the hem of his blue button-up. Was this too dressy? Would he come off too strong? What if his date wore something really casual and he looked like a complete moron? What else was new? Maybe he could go back and change into a plain old t-shirt or something. But what if his date dressed semi-formal? Then he'd look like a two-bit shmuck who didn't care about this date.

He couldn't win.

He knocked on the door. The light rapping sounded too loud and he cringed with every 'thud'. What if he knocked too loud? What if they didn't like people knocking on their door? Where was the doorbell? Would it be too weird for him to ring it now he'd knocked? But what if they hadn't heard him? He didn't want to be standing out here like a dork all night.

He started looking around for a doorbell just as the door opened.

He stared at the boy standing on the other side of the entryway, curious green eyes fixed on him.

"Just looking for the doorbell." He tried to sound casual.

His date nodded once, nonplussed and reached around the door. After grabbing his jacket, his date called over his shoulder to whoever was still inside.

"He's here."

"Be back by eleven." Was the answering hail.

His date shut the door and turned to look him up and down.

Was that a good perusal? Had he seen something that he didn't like? Was it the shirt? Oh, please, let it be just the shirt.

"Are we going to stand here all night?" The redheaded boy asked.

It was a joke, a lame one, but it was just what he needed.

He grinned at his date and jerked his head over to the parked jeep.

"Let's get going, Gaara."

The redhead's fingers met and curled into his own. His thoughts calmed, the whirlwind of nerves settled into a mellow breeze.

"Yes, lets."

Sasuke woke confused.

**PAGE BREAK**

They never talked about that night, the night Naruto left, Sasuke's words, or Naruto coming back. They never acknowledged that anything had changed between them, but something had and each could feel it. Because when Sasuke took Naruto back into his life, he admitted several things. Firstly, that Naruto had held a place in his life at all; that he felt the departure of his ghost friend and finally, he wanted Naruto back.

They fell back into their old routine. Naruto would hang around Sasuke for much of the day, whether at school, home or extra-curricular activity, pestering him about something he found strange or interesting. And Sasuke would more often than not, find himself smiling at the blond ghost's jokes. Naruto lived for those moments…so to speak.

But somewhere in the back of Naruto's mind, a doubt still lingered. A tiny cut from Sasuke's rebuke still stung, reminding him in the middle of a shared chuckle that it was still there, it still hurt. They never talked about that either. Until one night, Naruto had enough.

"Are you sorry?"

Sasuke glanced at the ghost sitting on his bed from his place at the desk and frowned. "Sorry?"

Naruto returned the frown. "Are you sorry that I left?"

The raven looked away.

Naruto stood up. "You are sorry, aren't you?"

"Why are you doing this?" Sasuke was still looking away from him. Naruto marched up behind the man and repeated his question, his demand for acknowledgement.

Sasuke said nothing. And so they both stood in silence, for how long, neither knew. At last the raven pushed his chair back and stood.

"Come on."

"Where are we going?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke just kept walking.

The ghost was caught between frustration and curiosity. Curiosity won eventually and he followed his friend out of the house. He didn't realize where they were going until Sasuke parked the car.

"Sasuke…"

The raven opened his own door and said. "Get out of stay in, it's your choice."

But there wasn't really a choice, not where Sasuke was concerned. So Naruto slipped through the car door and fell into place beside Sasuke towards the carnival grounds.

The large partitioned area was deserted, as was only right in the middle of January. But Sasuke kept pace, walking around like the fair was in full swing and it wasn't actually below freezing. Naruto gazed at the boy, wondering why Sasuke had brought him back to this place. Suddenly, Sasuke stopped. Before Naruto could open his mouth, the brunette was speaking.

"This is where you insulted my date's intelligence." And then, with no further explaination, he kept walking. Naruto blinked and hurried after until, the man stopped abruptly once more.

"This is where you warned me not to buy my date nachos because you didn't think she would be able to handle them and the rides." He stepped over to a rusted green dumpster. "This is where shoes got thrown up on. You were laughing so hard and I wanted to tell you to shut up."

Naruto was beginning to understand and that understanding left him breathless.

Sasuke continued to walk, to stop and to speak. "This was where you kept brushing my date's shoulder. She couldn't stop shivering and I had to give her my coat. You looked annoyed and stopped.

"This is where the Farris wheel was set up. You went up too and sat between us.

"This is the place where a woman was selling ugly braided jewelry. You wanted me to buy one, but my date thought they were disgusting and pulled me away."

They were back in the parking lot. Sasuke wasn't looking at Naruto, just staring off into the darkness, as if he were watching the past unfold like a movie in the black skyline.

"This was where I said goodbye…to my date…and then to my best friend."

Naruto forgot how to speak. His mouth opened, but no words emerged from his constricted throat. The incredible implication of that simple admission was so much.

So he said nothing. Everything he could come up with felt wrong anyway. Instead he smiled and stared walking. He knew Sasuke would follow him. And when he sat down on the dock, looking out on the frosty water, he knew his best friend would sit down next to him. He kicked his feet, swinging them back and forth like a child, enjoying the companionship.

"Hey Sasuke."

"Hn."

Naruto grinned. But his eyes were serious as he looked out into the dark horizon. "If you didn't like your date; how come you went out with her?"

The raven shook his head. "That's not the point, usuratonkachi."

Naruto turned to glare indignantly at his friend. "Of course that's the point of dating. You should like the person you're dating, really like them. That's what dating is all about."

"Not for an Uchiha."

That made the ghost pause, his eyes back to searching the sea. They stayed that way for a while, in silence, letting the shushing waves speak for them.

This was all so strange. It was as if the spectrum of light itself had shifted and only they could see it. The world was unchanged, but Naruto was beginning to look at everything differently. He was almost content to keep things as they had been, but inside him said it would be a mistake. So instead of keeping the comfortable silence between them, Naruto sighed.

"Hey Sasuke?"

"Hm?"

Naruto smiled, but didn't look at the raven. He wasn't sure he had the courage to. So he spat the words out before he could lose his nerve. "I'm glad I got to hang out with you tonight."

"Me too, Naruto." The words jumped out of his mouth, almost on their own. But as soon as they did, Sasuke was surprised to find they were true. He let the smallest of smiles quirk his lips upward. "Me too."


End file.
